Conservationists press Jakarta to follow industry lead on forests

JAKARTA: Conservationists are urging the Indonesian government to listen to business and start taking deforestation seriously after a major paper giant joined the growing ranks of companies pledging to stop clearing forests. Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Ltd (APRIL), the second largest pulp and paper company in Indonesia, announced this week it had stopped harvesting natural forest in a move hailed by its former critic Greenpeace as a “major breakthrough”. Indonesia has some of the world’s most extensive and biodiverse rainforests, but huge swathes have been chopped down by palm oil, mining and timber companies. As a result, Southeast Asia’s top economy has become the world’s third-biggest carbon emitter.